Another "Won't Shift Into Reverse" Thread

[cgrooves]

For starters: 305 V8 engine coupled with a Mercruiser Pre-Alpha Outdrive (Mercruiser 898, to be specific).

Symptom: Boat would not shift from neutral into reverse. It would try to engage, but you could hear gears start grinding and if you pulled the lever back further the RPM's would start increasing and it would never go into gear.

I let a marine mechanic attempt a simple cable adjustment, but ended up having to install a new lower shift cable because the old one was stretched beyond tolerance. Problem did not go away after the new cable was installed. Mechanic even made some adjustment at the remote and replaced cable linkage, to no avail. Mechanic stated that he would probably have to disassemble the outdrive and replace a 'shifting cam?' or something. Any ideas on what the problem may be?

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Another "Won't Shift Into Reverse" Thread

Yes, there is a shift crank in the lower gear case that can wear over time & cause this symptom.....
There are tests in the trouble shooting section in the link below that will isolate excessive play.......
http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Servmanl/6/6A2R3.PDF​

 

[sped]

Re: Another "Won't Shift Into Reverse" Thread

I had a problem similar to yours. I would try to navigate the boat to the dock and it not only would not go into reverse it would not come out of forward! I took it into the dealer and they found it was a module in the distributor. I said r i g h t! They did change it and everything was (and still is) fine.
What the module does? It cuts out the engine for a micro-second to let the gears disengage.
Ed